Certain art, e.g., DE A1 3935934 discloses a preparation of 3-chloro-2-fluoro-5-trifluoromethyl-benzoic acid which comprises the conversion of 1,3-dichloro-2-fluoro-(trifluoromethyl)benzene with tert-butyl lithium/pentane and subsequent carbon dioxide treatment. However, this preparation process suffers from the use of corrosive chemicals at low temperatures of −78° C. and thus creates a scaling issue.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to develop a process for the preparation of 3-chloro-2-fluoro-5-trifluoromethyl-benzoic acid compounds which could be performed on technical scale and overcome or avoid such known drawbacks in the art.